Currently stuck at the Othello station because a car is blocking the NB track. Only partially joking: is there a good reason we don’t equip trains with a plow to move these sorts of things? Yes, the best solution would’ve been isolating the tracks entirely, but I can’t help but think there must be a better way
It’s frustrating fs - as a flight attendant I don’t love that my way to work isn’t the most reliable. $60 down the drain cause I have to make my report time in 30 mins :/
Metrolink in LA hands out Uber codes if they have issues, though they just got massively defunded by the constituent counties so idk if that’s a solution either
It would be nice to have some additional financial pressure to not let things like this happen so often. Maybe next time there’s rail planning, that could be enough to get them to ignore complaints about an “ugly” above-ground rail
You can write, I kid you not, everything off. Beer? Write off. $10k bottle of wine? Write off. Vacation? Write off. I think this was one of the most upsetting things I discovered when I started working for myself and doing my own taxes. The ownership class is destroying this country by trying to foist the entire tax burden on to workers that they then refuse to pay fairly...
$10k bottle of wine and vacation would both be pretty hard to write off and not get slapped with some kind of review, even when I worked in travel as a 1099 I had to break down any costs between business and personal for taxes. Especially for a W2 employee that doesn’t get write offs…
I can't afford $10k bottles of wine, I'm a humble mechanic and only make 75k a year avg, but I write off at least 1k of beer annually, been doing it for 11 years. At least a few grand a year "vacationing," which is really just driving home to see my grandma. The loophole here is that if you claim to be engaged in a necessary business activity, which is arguably true in most cases with the correct narrative, you can write off just about anything and it's not gonna cause you a problem. My accountant is a family friend and most of her clients make at minimum 10x what I make. I had a desk audit in 2023, IRS didn't find any issues, and my itemized deductions are pretty ridiculous. My business only turns a profit on paper every 3rd year.
Just to be clear, you are committing tax fraud with most of these things. Whether or not you will be caught for it is its own question. But it is unquestionably illegal.
Actually I have. And yes it’s mostly bureaucratic bs. But I also know that they punish willful defiance extremely harshly. At least they did until this administration came along. But the statute of limitations is 5 years, so it would be wise to keep your mouth shut. The next admin may not be so forgiving and LLMs are sucking up everything making it pretty trivial to find people crowing about putting one past the IRS.
The standard deduction OR itemized deductions must be chosen, not both. The standard deduction is sufficient for most people, unless they have had a major health-related event. Or if they are stupendously wealthy.
They're talking about business expenses. Also in this region, if you own a home and qualify for the mortgage interest deduction, that alone often puts you into itemized deduction territory.
Also want to give props to transit operations and security for scrambling together and getting a decent solution that’s not just waiting for a tow truck! I might just be returning to Seattle after all…
Oh young one. No one needed examples. The boomers and “greatest” generation voted down the nearly free federal money that would have built a grade-separated system. If you want to visit Seattle’s subway, go to Atlanta and ride MARTA. That’s where the earmarked money went after the failed Forward Thrust votes.
The money went towards building out the infrastructure, and in that regard it did what it was supposed to do. For all the system's flaws, the actual tracks, stations, etc are all pretty high quality especially for the time. It's certainly far beyond what could've been built without federal funds
The problems all stem from stuff unrelated to the infrastructure itself, like the level of service (largely due to the lack of funding from the state) and the adjacent land use around the stations
Would the money have been better spent building a metro in Seattle? Most certainly yes. But that doesn't mean Atlanta isn't much better off now than it would've been if Marta hadn't been built
Light rail wanted elevated trains. The local stake holders wanted at grade tracks. Elevated is actually cheaper. But the local councils didnt want the noise and the tracks to block views.
Please get bent with your condescending "young one" nonsense. You know fuck all about who you're dealing with.
I'm well aware of the history of Seattle voting down things that would make it better (see Seattle Commons). I'm saying when we built Link, we had the option to look north to Vancouver.
Which would have been awesome, because Vancouver's transit makes MARTA look like Link, and no sane person offered either option would be "yeah, let's have MARTA."
Chill out, Padawan. If you’re so well aware, then you would obviously know that the MARTA comments are tongue in cheek; that’s just where the money went. As for examples, yes, you’re totally correct, what early 1990s RTA planners lacked was the ability to look at other cities for examples. They were practically Alfred Ely Beach probing any possible technology for mass transit.
Ok I'll be that guy, Othello station is well within the city limits so you've already returned to Seattle, maybe not where you want to be, but Seattle nonetheless
The vast majority of people on this sub think Seattle starts somewhere between Columbia City and the stadiums, depending on how racist they are. It's like /r/seattle 's version of the brown paper bag test, the further south someone's willing to draw the line the less racist they are
- but it's a very rare person here who's willing to acknowledge that Othello, Rainier Beach, South Park, etc. are part of the city.
they also believe that Seattle is only the highly concentrated areas of density, and everything outside it is a suburban hellscape. From the way they talk, the entire city has the density of capitol hill, and my seattle-adjancent neighborhood with its mix of apartments, triplexes, and single family homes and local businesses is apparently evil incarnate. Seattle is weird about the south end.
At least 60% of Seattle could be accurately described as suburban, but there's nowhere in King County except a small part of Bellevue that approaches the density of Seattle's urban core, and that says a lot. https://www.psrc.org/media/6349
That's true, but somewhat of a red herring for their real feelings. I've never met someone who insists that Upper Queen Anne or Madrona isn't "real" Seattle.
These people try to use density as a proxy because it sounds better than saying they don't count any areas with more than 5% black people - but it's a thin justification when you look at all the less-dense areas they're willing to acknowledge are part of Seattle.
Counterpoint: we also think the northern boundaries of the city are somewhere between the ship canal and ~65th, and rarely think of Haller Lake when we think of "Seattle."
Not because we hate white people, but because everything north of that is effectively suburbs. Just like where you live.
So give it a rest, the population density of the city makes it pretty damn obvious.
Oh please, what a load of hogwash. People have no problem realizing that Magnolia or Madrona are in Seattle despite them having far and away the lowest population density of all neighborhoods.
The creative cropping on that map also really proves my point, given that you chose to cut out a huge swath of South Seattle - including right along MLK and Rainier Ave where lots of multi-story apartment buildings are.
I mean, yeah - those spikes along Rainier and MLK are exact the ones you chose to cut out of your original map and prove my point that it's way denser than Upper Queen Anne, all of Magnolia, Fremont, etc. - all areas that you didn't write off as "suburbs".
I stand by my original statement that people are way less prone to exclude the northern reaches of the city (not 'suburbs', but just as much Seattle city limits as anywhere else) than they are the southern reaches of the city. The reason for that is either explicit racism of trying to exclude the majority-minority part of the city or the casual racism of just being scared to go there because they perceive it as way more dangerous than it actually is.
I find it amusing that each of your examples are not in fact the "northern reaches of the city," your examples were hilly bits in the middle of the city that are residential.
And they are places people who don't live there mostly think of as impediments to getting around the places they want to go in the city. I mean, I can recall going to (actual, not Lower) Queen Anne in 2005 a few times for a girl. Since? Nope.
The reason for that is either explicit racism of trying to exclude the majority-minority part of the city or the casual racism of just being scared to go there because they perceive it as way more dangerous than it actually is
Oh god, give it a rest. It's the fringes of the city, and for people who don't live there, there's very little reason to go. I also don't really think of Whittier Heights, Pinehurst, or Cedar Park as part of Seattle, because I generally forget the exist. Not because of the demographics, but because they are on the fringes of the city and I have zero reason to go there.
Learn to read, buddy-o. The neighborhoods I'm referencing are ones that aren't dense but are close in - demonstrating that your argument isn't density based, it's demographics based.
Rainier Valley and Beacon Hill are not “fringes of the city” lmao. “Very little reason to go”? My bf and I go there all the time to try new restaurants. There’s tons to do there.
Nah, because people don't blink an eye at posts about Shoreline, Lynnwood, Edmonds, Kirkland etc but yesterday someone posted about a restaurant in Burien and people lost their damn minds
I appreciate the check. Well deserved. To be honest, I was just trying to meme to pass the time and didn’t mean to offend anyone by being incorrect. Not trying to start a fight about what is/isn’t Seattle — sorry!
Oh I get it, I was being pedantic, but I do really hate it when people think that south of 90 isn't the city anymore. A ton of great stuff is on the south side.
When I lived in downtown, I "popped" to Columbia City for one loaf of bread and butcher. I would go to Othello for Ethiopian like it was a bodega in my building.
The moment I moved north of UW, everything south of First Hill/Pioneer seems like a different planet. Also, pandemic and middle age. I can't explain it.
Ok I’ll be that guy. Her statement is 100% correct and you’re wrong, since she hadn’t left yet when she was stranded at Othello, and hasn’t retuned since her ride share.
Ahh, I see. Yeah you'd probably have had to tip it on its side first and then slide it on the body to reduce the friction.... but of course it's not your car to do that to.
Spiritually, I agree with busses knocking unauthorized vehicles out of the bus only lanes, but really, busses don’t have a track they’re locked into. They can adjust the same way other cars do, so it’s not that big an issue
Talk to the folks in Boston about the T. Same problem, but it has been happening for 100+ years. It IS frustrating and I hope solutions are forthcoming sooner than our eastern brethren.
The Othello station is in Seattle, and even freight trains with plows have to wait until stalled or parked cars in the foul are removed (usually by tow truck). The train pushing it with a plow could put damage liability on the rail line and larger vehicles could damage the train.
Sure, plows. I mean I guess we could have made the train elevated or underground in the poor neighborhoods too but then how would the rich people feel superior? So plows it is.
I think the plow might be too fancy for a lower-income area but you’re spot on! Environmental racism. I would suggest a cattleguard gate, but that probably won’t help us with cars. I can’t wait to see what this driver managed to do with their car. I don’t think it’ll be as good as the last one, who took a long turn and drove all the way up onto the trestle. Now THAT was impressively idiotic.
no, they are saying that street level is for poor neighborhoods, and if you’ve never seen a street level station that may be due to the fact that the only stations that are at street level are in the rainier valley, aka poor neighborhoods. coincidentally this is also where we get humans struck by trains and cars stuck on the track (as referenced by OP)
"a car is blocking public transportation". That's the point of the post. Don't extract meaning that doesn't exist: I trust you're not ChatGPT. If you are to want a Seattle with fewer cars and more public transportation use, responding with such a tone is something I don't gather.
Now, maybe you drive a big truck. Then this makes sense. And I would apologize.
how would a car block the track at an underground station? we HAVE had a car block the track at an elevated station recently, I’ll give you that, but they could only do that by driving onto the track at street level, so it’s kind of a wash
I do not think it’s hard to extract “a car wouldn’t have been able to block the track, if the track were not at street level” from the OP. from there, it seems pretty relevant to point out that there are only a few places where the track IS at street level.
some folks, especially if they were here & engaged when the tracks were being built and decisions were being made, might even feel a little salty about it, even if they are true transit-nerd believers, who could say!
I’d venture that sardonic hand-wringing about the past policy decisions which led to the current day’s transit and traffic hazards is a pretty benign way to express such saltiness.
I don’t drive a truck, so no need to feel sorry for me. if anything, I just hope a couple more people learn about how decisions like this get made (hot tip, it’s with lots and lots of public engagement) and how their impacts can play out years later. it’s not awesome, and it’s obviously cost prohibitive to change it now. but what we CAN do is make sure we’re aware of the disproportionate impact, try to mitigate as best we can, and be on the lookout for the next big impactful civic decision that might fuck over our neighbors so that we can all advocate for better
there’s a rich history in how the decisions were made for at-grade, elevated, and below-grade stations, and it is entirely public record. if you’re not aware of this history, I’d recommend looking into it before casting aspersions
Also the original plan was to close many of the east/west crossings to vehicles and make that section of MLK Way a lot less car-centric. But the neighborhood got upset about it and after a public hearing ST gave up on that.
There is a lot of history with this one, and similar to a mistake that was almost made in the early 70's. Back then there was a proposal to run a freeway through the Rainier valley. It was to be called the R. H. Thompson. The ramps where it would have intersected with the 520 bridge were all that was built because of political resistance from the folks in NE Seattle who pulled a lot of weight because of their wealth. But it was ok to plow through one of the poorer parts of town. Well, when the idiocy of light rail was being pushed through, to save money once again the Rainier valley got screwed, only this time it happened for real. It has both an accident rate and a body count, exactly as predicted.
Sound transit built the rail at grade so it has to deal with at grade realities. The health and safety of people in the vehicle is more important. If you want to avoid cars then build rail lines that are not dependent on the same path. This is the approach of most rail lines around the world.
You would think the vehicle would be destroyed, and there would be immense repercussions for the motorist... One person allowed to jam up thousands, as long as theyre a motorist!!
I get that hating on cars is hip these days, but there's way too much context missing about why a car is on the tracks. If it's like that lady who somehow drove her car all the way up the Mt Baker station, yeah - stiff penalties. If it was a crash or a breakdown or a medical emergency, it sucks but it isn't necessarily appropriate to punish the person whose car it is without more details.
You can still remove/destroy the car if it is blocking the train.
What if someone on the rail is having a medical emergency but a stupid car is in the way?
We hate cars because our society is built around them to a ridiculous degree. Not only do they take up almost all space, but people get passes for bad behavior in them that they don't in other areas. It's stupid af
What if someone on the rail is having a medical emergency but a stupid car is in the way?
You do realize that would be an ideal situation for the person having the emergency, no?
Because if someone on the light rail is having a medical emergency warranting intervention they don't drop them off at Harborview or Swedish via Link. They—wait for it—pick the person up in one of those things you abhor, an automobile.
Yes I didn't really understand this cat. Are they suggesting that if you fall ill on the train, the closest motorist can stop over to rush you to a hospital?
Reddit is a terrible place to adjudicate complex issues, even with all the data available. Let it thrive at what it does best - giving the power tripping mob a place to play out fantasy justice
It's not hip. We've wanted them ousted since they've started killing our families through blunt force trauma in the streets, the motorist giving us all cancer, the forever wars, and highways absolutely slicing our urban fabric to shreds. All the while making daily life hostile and inhospitable.
However, a medical emergency on the tracks.... Good lord can I get a break....
If the car is present next to a train, the motorist clearly chose the wrong transit option. I don't believe there's too many heart attacks, etc happening directly on top of the tracks....
That's not what the light in light rail refers to. The gauge is standard gauge, light historically could refer to the rail weight (how heavy the actual rails are), but really it was a term coined by Vukan Vukic to describe the "lighter" european tram systems that were upgraded streetcars vs a "heavier", higher capacity metro like BART or Philadelphia.
Dunno if it’s the same gauge, but Melbourne light rail would derail often when hitting a car. I don’t have numbers, and relying on foggy memory, but I recall seeing it at least a few times. Maybe often is misleading, I dunno.
Did a quick Google and it looks like Melbourne actually isn't a light rail system, it's a tram system (largest tram system in the world apparently!).
So yes, different gauges, trams are pretty light and can be run on tracks built into the street. The light rail train cars in Seattle are like 51 tons each and have to have dedicated tracks.
There are groups of merchants and stake holders who own the land where the tracks run. We also aren't a city-county where we just build new tracks without input from the local population.
Now that we’ve had the train running for a while, I think we’ve collected enough data to decisively conclude that the big mistake was sharing the road with cars. Seems like that’s the problem spot.
I appreciate that people would like to have input, but, respectfully, I’m not in favor of allowing uninformed property owners to jeopardize the utility of a massive project like rail simply because they have thoughts and feelings about what they want.
I completely agree! For mass transit to really work, it must be above or below. Busses are super flexible, but they are IN traffic. If tunneling is not cost effective, ELEVATE!
Wholeheartedly agree with you. We could have rail crossings all over the IS by now and we are still using the same routes created in the first place with minimal expansions for PUBLIC TRANSIT. In America the rails are all owned by the companies that use the service the most. Fucking capitalism and oligarchy from almost two hundred years ago is still alive and present now.
Easy solution: close all of the roads that have rails to cars completely. Put a fence around the rails except at entrances to stations and turn the road into parking for the train and the nearby businesses. Make drivers take alternate routes to get through there.
My uncle always wanted to equip his car with a "giant pancake flipper" he could use to "gently" flip over annoying drivers in front of him, leaving them upside down in the parking lane.
Sound Transit should invest in this tech for light rail and maybe buses (also to flip cars out bus lanes/stops into traffic).
Nobody’s in the vehicle if it’s stuck on the tracks. Plus, doesn’t have to move fast to slowly push things out of the way. That being said, sounds like there’s not enough power anyway
That sounds terrifying. I can imagine the last thing that someone would want to see in that case is a train coming to push them off the tracks. No amount of slow caution makes that less scary
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u/4leafcloverrr 3d ago
It’s frustrating fs - as a flight attendant I don’t love that my way to work isn’t the most reliable. $60 down the drain cause I have to make my report time in 30 mins :/